Just what is 'Gangnam Style?' Seoul Convention Bureau explains it all

Hoping to capitalize on the record popularity of the "Gangnam Style" music video, a South Korean tourism organization has launched a campaign and contest around the theme, “Just what is Gangnam?”

The video, by the South Korean pop and rap star Psy, recently became the most watched item ever posted to YouTube with more than 800 million views. In surpassing Canadian teen star Justin Bieber for the You Tube honor, Psy cemented his position as one of the biggest, and most unlikely, international stars of 2012.

The song is named after the affluent Gangnam District of Seoul and it mocks the rampant consumerism of that suburb, according to Reuters.

The South Korean tourism folks have made a video boosting Gangnam’s attractions. The goal is to draw more tourists to the area, and to Seoul. And along with the campaign is a contest in which people write on the group’s Facebook page about what Gangnam means to them. Winners get a free trip to Seoul.

In the outlandish video, Psy sports sunglasses and tuxedos, raps in Korean and dances as if he were riding a horse. Psy, whose real name is Park Jai-sang, is no stranger to wealth as his father is chairman of a South Korean semiconductor company.

His parents sent him to business school in the United States but he confesses that he bought musical instruments with his tuition money. He later graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston and won fame in South Korea with his 2001 debut album.

Check out the Seoul Convention Bureau and more information on the video here.